UOC: Nationalist organizations use priests of UGCC in Kolomyia

The Chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Met. Anthony (Pakanich) believes that behind the seizure of the church in Kolomyia are radical nationalist organizations and political forces, which benefit from fostering scandals around the Church. He said this in an interview with the "Apostrophe".

"The scandal around the church in Kolomyia was provoked by radical nationalist organizations that use Uniate priests. I do not exclude that some political forces may be behind it, which use artificial scandals around the Church to their advantage for further destabilization of the society," said Vladyka.

"It is noteworthy that the very leadership of the UGCC, albeit in a mild form, has made it clear that it does not support the actions of its so-called chaplains in Kolomyia, because a few days after the first attempt to take over our church, which took place on June 4 of this year, the leadership of the UGCC , if you believe in their sincerity, stated that they do not seek to seize churches of other faiths," said the hierarch of the UOC. "Also, taking into account the last interview on this topic with the head of the UGCC, Archbishop Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), it can be concluded (if I understood correctly) that the UGCC does not support such actions of its priests, but it can not influence them."

"I would also like to note that the UGCC has more than 20 churches in Kolomyia, and the UOC – only two, one of which they took from us. Whatever it was, all the contentious issues in this case could be solved through negotiations, dialogue, communication, and not by church raiding, with insolent violation of laws," stressed Met. Anthony.